Chapter 3: Pay and Repay
A few hours later, Allen returned to the Three Heads Tavern.
Closing the back door, he his eyes and mumbled something under his breath looking towards the floor.
Raising his head up, he spotted the back of Mr. Sanchez, who was leaning on the counter.
Mr. Sanchez turned around and looked at Allen, "Good, you are finally back. Have you completed the job?"
Allen removed his mask, revealing a somewhat pale face; lowering his head back down he asked, "Yes, but... who did I just kill?" Earlier on his way back to the tavern, his mind was full of thoughts about the person whom he just killed.
"The son of the chief of the guards of the town.", Mr. Sanchez answered.
"W-what?! Then I'd be hunted down endlessly!", Allen bitterly complained.
Mr. Sanchez ignored Allen's complaint and told him to just follow.
Afterwards, Allen saw an old man sitting down beside one of the tables in the tavern. The old man looked at Mr. Sanchez and asked, "Is it over?"
"Yes.", Mr. Sanchez nodded.
The old man expressed his thanks. He placed a pouch on top of the table and left the tavern without saying another word.
"You don't know him, kid?", Mr. Sanchez suddenly asked.
"N-no.", Allen answered.
Mr. Sanchez glanced at him and said, "That old man is the chief of the guards."
"W-what?!", Allen turned his gaze right towards the other's eyes.
"His son got an incurable disease. He knew that he won't live much longer, but he can't finish his own son's life. But still, he wanted him to die immediately so he won't suffer any longer because of that sickness.", Mr. Sanchez explained.
"Hais, now his kid is alone, his mother already died long ago but the child doesn't know about it. Luckily, he still has his grandfather.", Mr. Sanchez paused, "A parent would do anything for their child if they see them suffering, maybe even to the point of killing them."
Allen looked down towards the floor and thought, 'A parent would do anything for their child? Then what about my father?'
"Come to think of it, won't your parents be worried sick about you if you're not home yet?", Mr. Sanchez suddenly asked.
"No, not really.", Allen said and thought, 'After all, I was suppose to sleep outside.'
"You can go home now, there's a location devoid of guards down at southeast area of the town prepared by the chief guard. Don't worry, that old man won't have any thoughts of catching you, in fact, he would feel indebted instead.", Mr. Sanchez said as he gave Allen 20 bronze coins from the pouch. "And come back tomorrow night or else..."
Mr. Sanchez didn't finish the sentence and walked up the stairs. He knew that the kid already would have an idea what words would come next. The latter gave left his dagger and mask on the table and exited through the back door again and went to the said location where he could leave the town.
When he exited the town, Allen immediately walked towards the foot of a hill, where his home was, while looking towards the starry sky.
'A parent would do anything for their child...'
'A parent would do anything for their child...'
'A parent would do anything for their child...'
The voice of the tavern owner kept echoing in his mind during the walk. He didn't pay attention whether the path he was walking on was muddy which formed due to the heavy rain earlier.
After a few minutes of walking, he finally spotted a familiar house, he didn't immediately go to the shed but washed his muddy feet from the water from the nearby well first. After washing, he sighted an opened window at the second floor of the house, and recalled his little brother.
'Tomorrow, I'd get you a gift.' Allen thought, 'Probably father too, so that he won't be mad anymore, at least.'
Afterwards, he went in the shed and climbed up to the same spot where his blanket still was and started sleeping.
...
Next morning...
Allen sneaked in the house through the door of the kitchen, which was at the back of the house.
He quietly checked the dining table if there was any food.
"Big brother.", a voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Ahhh!" Allen screeched in fright. He turned around and heaved a sigh of relief to see that it was only William.
"Father left a while ago.", William said. "Don't worry, you can eat now."
"Did you eat already?"
"Yes."
"Oh.", Allen then continued checking food on the table and saw that there was a leftover porrage. He immediately sat down and started eating the porrage.
"You look tired big brother.", William examined. "Your eyes are squinting!" He neared Allen and narrowed his own eyes in suspicion.
"Uhh... I didn't sleep well.", Allen scratched the back of his head and chuckled.
"Really?"
"Yes!", Allen nodded.
...
'Why me?!'
'Why me?!'
'Why me?!'
The voice in his head kept resonating without stop while he was being beaten up by the man in his sleep.
...
He could still hear the grieving shouts of the man while choking him to death in his dream. Even until now, the voice was rattling inside his head.
Allen secretly clenched his fists and thought, 'I had no choice, or else my family will be the one that will get killed.'
"What are you thinking, big brother?", William curiously asked.
"Nothing. And why are you so noisy today?", Allen rubbed William's head softly.
"Stop it. Hmph!", William removed Allen's hand off him and left the kitchen.
Allen just smiled and thought deeply, 'It's just for my family.'
Finishing his breakfast, he called William down from the second floor of the house by the stairs.
"What is it, big brother?", William asked.
"Let's go get you some new clothes, and boots too.", Allen said. "As a birthday present for you!" He grinned.
"But didn't father take away the money?", William eyed Allen suspiciously.
The kid, now turning ten year-old, has always been very perceptive and attentive to the point that it even scared their father. If he was enrolled into a school, he would have been smarter than most of the noble children, but the school fees are really expensive that most of the time only nobles could pay it.
"I got to steal 20 bronze coins yesterday after the storm.", Allen replied. It wasn't a secret in his family that he would be a pickpocket to steal for money.
William further looked straightly towards Allen's eyes, feeling something's off.
"Alright.", William shrugged and cleared off his own suspicions and asked. "I don't know why you're the only one who work. While father only gambles and get drunk with the money you get."
Allen didn't answer and just smiled in response to William.
"Alright, alright, I won't disturb family matters . Now stop giving me that smile, I feel like you are going to eat me.", William pushed away Allen and ran out the door.
"I'm going to eat you... roar!", Allen ran after William.
"Ahh... no!"
...
On the road towards the town, Allen and William were walking side by side while having a conversation on where to buy.
"You know we could buy in the marketplace.", William pointed towards the direction of the market from their location.
Allen shook his head in disagreement, "There are a lot of greedy people there, I've seen a lot of them nowadays, even the people from the slums aren't that greedy."
William just nodded. He almost doesn't know anything about the usual happenings in the Crescent Town, as he spend most of his time being in the house.
"Hey! Aren't you that kid?", a voice came from behind them.
Allen and William turned around a saw a guard running towards them. The younger Morgan didn't recognize him, but the former does!
It was that commanding guard that was after him from yesterday!
'Oh no.', before Allen even got to run away, the guard already lunged at the kid, pinning him to the ground.
"Get off me!", Allen tried to resist but more guards came and pinned him down.
"Get off my brother!", William tried to push away the guards but was dragged away by one of them.
"Drag him to the jail.", the commanding guard said. "This kid's a criminal."
"Stop this ruckus.", another yet deeper voice said.
All the guards stopped and paused on what they were doing, including the commanding guard.
Because the guards stopped tackling him down, Allen sat up and saw an old man in the guards' uniform who was riding a horse.
'It's him?', Allen recognized the old man, which was the chief guard!
"Sir!", all the guards stood up and made a bow.
The old man took a gander at Allen and to the guards, "What's this all about?"
"Sir...", the commanding stepped forward and saluted. "This kid tried to enter the town from a different path and not from one of the official roads."
"Oh...", the old man pondered and said, "Then he is hereby pardoned."
"Yes s- wait, sir!", the commanding guard and the other ones were startled to what their superior said.
"You heard me right? Pardoned! I have to authority to pardon a criminal.", the old man repeated.
"But sir...", the commanding guard was about to say something when the old man intercepted him.
"It's not a grave crime like killing! Do you understand?!", the old man shouted, but it was a bit notable that his voice shook a little when he blurted out the word 'killing'.
"Yes sir.", the guards didn't dare disobey any longer. They knew what happened to the old man's son and only thought that their chief guard's feelings were a bit unstable.
The guards immediately left the area except for the old man. The commanding guard glanced at Allen from time to time, mumbling something; he was only able to leave when his own colleagues dragged him away.
"I never got to thank you personally, kid...", the old man got off the horse and approached Allen and helped him up. "I never wanted for him to die in the first place, but I have no choice. I'm sorry for all the trouble."
The old man sat back on the horse and immediately rode away from the location.
William overheard everything that the old man said and asked to Allen, "What did he mean, big brother?"
"No, nothing, come on, let's go.", Allen lowered his head down and dragged him away. His feelings were still heavy due to guilt from what he did last night.
Seeing that he couldn't make Allen speak, William tossed the issue at the back of his mind, but he was still wondering about the contents of the old man's sentence. Due to his lack of wisdom, even with his perceptiveness, he couldn't decipher the old man's words.
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